11-04-2013, 10:41 AM
I have suggested that the safety of GE products is really what we should be concerned about. This safety should extend to 3 critical areas: is it safe for human consumption, is it safe for the environment, and is there potential for interactions that transcend a given profile of interaction to result in an enhanced action that could deal great harm to people and the planet. The answer to the first two can be found in the 2012 paper by Antoniou et al (see Opensource: GMO Myths and Truths) which includes references to support their contentions. What is scary about this information is that the studies they quote have been around in some cases longer than a decade yet have been ignored by profit motivated chemical companies and even watch dog agencies. The studies I list below are typical with respect to human safety with regards to Glyphosphate: it is apparent that we end up consuming this product and that it can affect development, cell regulation, reproductive organs, maternity and cytoxicity including the potential for increased cancer risk.
Antoniou et al list 588 studies in their recent paper demonstrating (1) there are many studies in the independent and scientific literature pertaining to the topic of safety and (2) even the re-analysis of some of the industry data has been shown have negative effects counter to what the industry originally claimed (which perhaps is why the bulk of industry data has not been released?!). Now that more recent and independent studies have finally started studying horizontal gene transfer between GE organisms and wild organisms, the evidence points to genetic transfers between organisms that are related, organisms that are not related, and organisms that might have some interaction with humans. (see report by Krinshna Ramanujan in the Cornell Chronicle 2.29.2012 on rare bacteria-to-animal gene transfer that gave an advantage to a coffee pest, Moran and Jarvic’s 2009 report in Science vol. 328, pp 624-627 on gene transfer from fungi to aphids, and Miranda’s 2009 report in Agronony for Sustainable Development vol. :pp 497-501 on corn transgenes found in soil dwelling arthropods, earthworms, and microarthropods). The resulting picture is one frightening to comprehend because once these genes are out in nature, they can not be recalled. What is emerging is that we should have been looking for long term effects rather than short term effects, and that the Corporations who have fausted this upon us should have been much more critical of their own investigations and open to releasing their data to others for confirmation or rejection.
The EPA, FDA and USDA who had responsibility for some of these industry-driven releases has now come under scrutiny by the government watchdog agency the GAO which finds they need to be more diligent and come up with better ways to test pre-release GE crops and monitor those that have been released. GAO has called for these agencies to improve their coordination and reporting with each other. There is a need to determine whether the spread of genetic traits is causing undesirable effects on the environment, non-GE segments of agriculture, or food safety, as recommended by the National Research Council and others. Thus poor oversight by governmental agencies is partly to blame for the six escapes into nature that are known (we have no idea of others which have not been caught-see GAO Highlights, GAO-09-60 report to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry).
It is my firm belief that we need to pass bills stopping advance of GE crops into our County and even the state until such time that we have a much better idea of the overall impacts of these crops on ourselves, our environment and our health.
Poulsen MS, Rytting E, Mose T, Knudsen LE. Modeling placental transport: Correlation of in vitro BeWo cell permeability and ex vivo human placental perfusion. Toxicol In Vitro. Oct 2009; 23: 1380–1386.
Marc J, Mulner-Lorillon O, Belle R. Glyphosate-based pesticides affect cell cycle regulation. Biol Cell. Apr 2004; 96(3): 245-249.
Romano RM, Romano MA, Bernardi MM, Furtado PV, Oliveira CA. Prepubertal exposure to commercial formulation of the herbicide Glyphosate alters testosterone levels and testicular morphology. Archives of Toxicology. 2010; 84(4): 309-317.
Arbuckle TE, Lin Z, Mery LS. An exploratory analysis of the effect of pesticide exposure on the risk of spontaneous abortion in an Ontario farm population. Environmental Health Perspectives. August 2001; 109: 851–857.
Rull RP, Ritz B, Shaw GM. Neural tube defects and maternal residential proximity to agricultural pesticide applications. .Epidemiology. July 2004; 15(4): S188.
Mesnage R, Clair E, Gress S, Then C, Székács A, Séralini G-E. Cytotoxicity on human cells of Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac Bt insecticidal toxins alone or with a glyphosate-based herbicide. Journal of Applied Toxicology. 15 Feb 2012.
Antoniou et al list 588 studies in their recent paper demonstrating (1) there are many studies in the independent and scientific literature pertaining to the topic of safety and (2) even the re-analysis of some of the industry data has been shown have negative effects counter to what the industry originally claimed (which perhaps is why the bulk of industry data has not been released?!). Now that more recent and independent studies have finally started studying horizontal gene transfer between GE organisms and wild organisms, the evidence points to genetic transfers between organisms that are related, organisms that are not related, and organisms that might have some interaction with humans. (see report by Krinshna Ramanujan in the Cornell Chronicle 2.29.2012 on rare bacteria-to-animal gene transfer that gave an advantage to a coffee pest, Moran and Jarvic’s 2009 report in Science vol. 328, pp 624-627 on gene transfer from fungi to aphids, and Miranda’s 2009 report in Agronony for Sustainable Development vol. :pp 497-501 on corn transgenes found in soil dwelling arthropods, earthworms, and microarthropods). The resulting picture is one frightening to comprehend because once these genes are out in nature, they can not be recalled. What is emerging is that we should have been looking for long term effects rather than short term effects, and that the Corporations who have fausted this upon us should have been much more critical of their own investigations and open to releasing their data to others for confirmation or rejection.
The EPA, FDA and USDA who had responsibility for some of these industry-driven releases has now come under scrutiny by the government watchdog agency the GAO which finds they need to be more diligent and come up with better ways to test pre-release GE crops and monitor those that have been released. GAO has called for these agencies to improve their coordination and reporting with each other. There is a need to determine whether the spread of genetic traits is causing undesirable effects on the environment, non-GE segments of agriculture, or food safety, as recommended by the National Research Council and others. Thus poor oversight by governmental agencies is partly to blame for the six escapes into nature that are known (we have no idea of others which have not been caught-see GAO Highlights, GAO-09-60 report to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry).
It is my firm belief that we need to pass bills stopping advance of GE crops into our County and even the state until such time that we have a much better idea of the overall impacts of these crops on ourselves, our environment and our health.
Poulsen MS, Rytting E, Mose T, Knudsen LE. Modeling placental transport: Correlation of in vitro BeWo cell permeability and ex vivo human placental perfusion. Toxicol In Vitro. Oct 2009; 23: 1380–1386.
Marc J, Mulner-Lorillon O, Belle R. Glyphosate-based pesticides affect cell cycle regulation. Biol Cell. Apr 2004; 96(3): 245-249.
Romano RM, Romano MA, Bernardi MM, Furtado PV, Oliveira CA. Prepubertal exposure to commercial formulation of the herbicide Glyphosate alters testosterone levels and testicular morphology. Archives of Toxicology. 2010; 84(4): 309-317.
Arbuckle TE, Lin Z, Mery LS. An exploratory analysis of the effect of pesticide exposure on the risk of spontaneous abortion in an Ontario farm population. Environmental Health Perspectives. August 2001; 109: 851–857.
Rull RP, Ritz B, Shaw GM. Neural tube defects and maternal residential proximity to agricultural pesticide applications. .Epidemiology. July 2004; 15(4): S188.
Mesnage R, Clair E, Gress S, Then C, Székács A, Séralini G-E. Cytotoxicity on human cells of Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac Bt insecticidal toxins alone or with a glyphosate-based herbicide. Journal of Applied Toxicology. 15 Feb 2012.